Quote:
Originally Posted by soozieq /img/forum/go_quote.gif
Even stranger, is that the A808 model I still have, (the Atrac/SS version of the 818) DOES support on-the-fly playlists, bookmarks, ratings, gapless, deletion directly from the unit etc etc. Then for some reason Sony dropped it all when they released the 818. So for me, the question isn't: 'why not add to something's that good', but: 'why take away useful features in the first place?
Also, they never seem to keep one model in production long enough to build on it, or for people to get really attached to it. By the time they do, it's on to the next new model. The only update I ever had to the 808 was a fix for a sound glitch, although to be fair, it didn't really need extra features as it had everything I wanted (except for drag and drop!) But a lot of people over at Atraclife got all excited about the 818, thinking it would retain all the same features of the 808, but with a drag and drop facility instead of SS. What we ended up with was 2 halves of a great unit and no way of getting a firmware update to give them equal features.
Sony actually stated that the 818 was the "Atrac/SS-free version of the 808". No one realised all the useful 808 features had been dropped until they'd bought the 818. And no one was ecstatic that their 808 was suddenly 'obsolete' after just a few months
|
Being new to the sony line and indeed DAPs and indeed high end 'audiophile listening, gear etc, I wasn't aware of this but that only makes it worse. Thats crazy. They seem reluctant to give you everything- and its not like we're talking complex features here like voice-recording or radio or card expansion slots, though they would also be nice, if not all addressable through firmware updates- on one unit. Why remove the little things that have appeal when you don't have to? Things like on the fly playlist function, sleep-timer, deletion from unit, gapless etc, I wouldn't imagine to be that difficult to implement, particulary if they were used in previous models, so why remove them? I don't like being cynical but I can't help being somewhat here. I get the suspicion its almost like sony have a goal to provide the least, thats solid and of high quality like, for the most amount of money. Surely they would capture more of a following if they just gave customers a 'complete' model, with everything liked and appreciated kept from previous model(s) and what is keenly wanted (eg recently motion away from SS and to drag and drop, greater memorey capacity, bigger screen, bluetooth, maybe) added/incorporated into new model? Baffles me, really! I mean things that are absent from the latest series that a lot of ppl would use/have had use for with prior models- deletion from unit; on-the-fly playlists; sleep-timer; gapless with mp3 (WAV files are enormous!) etc- and then infuriatingly incorporate some new features users sought after and expressed desire for is only gona irritate old customers and new customers alike, once they find out sony used to provide features they would like to see in their new unit. If they at least responded to such with firmware updates it wouldn't be so bad. Samsung and cowon do it. Can't help but feel I'm being somewhat cheated, or rather, just not looked after with sony.
Right, got that out my system, now I can relax and enjoy what is good about my sony 829